"Based on the three-year human rights record of the Arroyo administration, it is not far-fetched to expect its record to stay, if not get worse," Balbin

By Rexcel Sorza, IOL Correspondent

ILOILO CITY, July 7 (IslamOnline.net) – By creating more jobs, pouring in more resources to education, balancing the budget, automating elections, concluding the peace process and settling political differences, President Gloria Arroyo vowed a better Philippines in the next six years of her presidency.

But to Filipino Muslims, particularly those who suffered from arbitrary arrests and charged as terrorists, this Southeast Asian state would not be a better place to live in during Arroyo’s incumbency, Attorney Fatemah Remedios Balbin said on Wednesday, July 7.

The promises the president outlined last June 30 on her inaugural for a new six-year term were welcomed by many of the more than 80 million Filipinos, at least 50 percent of whom are poor for earning less than a dollar daily.

But Balbin sees no positive change in the Arroyo government’s policy on the detention of Filipino Muslims on allegations of terrorism.

"Based on my review of the pleadings filed, the almost uniform allegations, and the attendant circumstances to their arrests [makes] the possibility of change in government policy on terrorism and its attitude towards Filipino Muslims and their arbitrary arrests, appear nil, " Balbin told IslamOnline.net.

Balbin, who is handling a host of cases filed against Filipino Muslims, is a senior commissioner of the government body, National Amnesty Commission. She also heads the Foundation for Social Justice.

Hard To Change

Balbin said the government copied US policy on terrorism "persuaded by the accompanying military and economic incentives," and it is "extremely difficult to change the policy of the Arroyo government, a stalwart of the U.S.-led "coalition of the willing", unless the US policy itself is changed.

Many Muslims have been targeted in the name of the government’s campaign against terrorism, raising fears of discrimination against the community members.

A Muslim senatorial candidate in April criticized President Arroyo for the spate of abduction and arrest of innocent Filipino Muslims, who were tagged by the government as "terrorists" without any evidence.

'Not Enough'

The wife of one of the Muslim detainees on charges of terrorism said that more Filipino Muslims might end up in jail wrongfully.

"The US government might feel and think that our government is not doing enough against the terrorists. They might one day, again, tell our government to step up its anti-terrorism campaign and our government would again be forced to arrest innocent Filipino Muslims without arrest warrants and force them into admitting they are terrorists," she told IOL on condition of anonymity.

Her husband, a Muslim revert running their small business, was picked up by police agents near a shopping mall and later on criminally charged.

She said her husband was tortured into admitting to being a terrorist in a wave of anti-terrorism campaign launched by the government last March. It was later reported that the arrests were carried out after the U.S. government told the Philippines it was not doing enough against terrorism.

No Warrant

Balbin also expects that detentions of Muslims will continue to be carried without warrant, and that coercion, illegal detention and other forms of human rights violations would also continue.

"Based on the three-year human rights record of the Arroyo administration, it is not far-fetched to expect its record to stay, if not get worse, particularly now that it has some basis for asserting a mandate from the people."

She disclosed that torture through the use of a plastic bag covering the head, which prevents the supposed suspects to breathe, "is more frequently used since it results in no physical sign of trauma".

"Torture, while under so-called ‘custodial investigation,’ which defies with impunity the time limit for detention without a charge being filed before the courts, was perpetrated on all the Muslim detainees whose cases are being handled by the undersigned."

And Balbin said not even the government’s creation of Salaam Police Force, which is a special police team manned by Muslim police officers and mandated to protect the rights of Filipino Muslims charged with terrorism, could change this course tracked by the Arroyo administration.

No Distinction

To truly protect the rights of the Filipino Muslims, Balbin strongly recommends that the Arroyo government rather "proceed strictly in accordance with constitutional processes."

She stressed: "There should be no distinction in the treatment of those charged with terrorism and those charged with other crimes. There is no need for a special legislation since the Constitution of the Philippines and international conventions are explicit on procedural and substantive due process in favor of the accused". 

"Since there is no Philippine law defining terrorism, charges against the alleged terrorists which invariably involve Muslims or Muslim converts, Balbin said, "it comes as no surprise that one kidnapping incident in [the Mindanao province of] Basilan for instance, could give rise to the alleged involvement through direct participation of at least 250 accused, all Muslims".

Balbin warned against the stigmatization of Muslims, whose number is at least five million of the approximately 76.4 million population.

Balbin is also initiating the formation of a paralegal group which will provide immediate assistance to those wrongfully taken and detained and or to assist a legal counsel.

The move is meant to lighten the burden of the legal work required by each case since the Office of Muslim Affairs does not have the legal staff to attend to those wrongfully arrested, tortured and detained Filipino Muslims but not yet facing charges or whose cases are already in court.

Balbin does not believe that a terror attack similar to what was carried out in Madrid, Spain would take place in the Philippines, but she said the government attempts to give that impression.

"It is unfortunate that the public is being led to believe that so-called ‘terrorist attacks’ the handiwork of Muslims even before an honest investigation is conducted on the perpetrators. 

"They could, in fact, be done by government elements or by plain bandit groups".